New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club Features GRAMMY Award-Winning Producer, Guitarist & Singer JOHN PIZZARELLI on
Thursday December 15 at 8 P.M. World-Renowned Jazz Guitarist John Pizzarelli has been hailed by the BOSTON GLOBE for "reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz."
While plenty of jazz greats influenced his work - Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry and Slam Stewart, among others -
Nat King Cole has been Pizzarelli's hero and foundation over the last 25+ years. He devoted two albums to
Nat King Cole music, 'Dear Mr. Cole' in 1994 and 'P.S. Mr. Cole', recorded and released five years later.
Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antonio
Carlos Jobim and the Beatles.
"A rare entertainer of the old school" - THE SEATTLE TIMES
"The genial genius of the guitar" - THE TORONTO STAR
"The music is, as always, magnificent; the singing is, as always, exceptional" - THE HUFFINGTON POST
"It's his guitar playing that truly places him in a class of his own" - THE NEW YORKER
Pizzarelli's solo recording career started in 1990 where played clubs and concert halls on the jazz circuit, opening for such greats as Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis and Rosemary Clooney. In 1993, he was honored to open for Frank Sinatra's international tour and then joined in the celebration for his 80th birthday at Carnegie Hall, bringing down the house singing "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" with his father accompanying him.
In 2006, he introduced 'Dear Mr. Sinatra', John's tribute album set to "Ol' Blue Eyes," featuring the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. The collection features John Clayton's clever reworking of standards such as "
I've Got You Under My Skin" and "You Make Me Feel So Young," as well as songs written for Sinatra, "Ring-A-Ding-Ding!," "Nice and Easy" and "The Last Dance." The NEW YORK TIMES praised the recording for "exploding with enthusiasm and excitement."
Pizzarelli's 2008 recording, the GRAMMY® Award Nominated 'With a Song in My Heart' album, celebrates the music of composer Richard Rodgers and includes swinging Rodgers & Hart standards like "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Mountain Greenery" and "Johnny One Note" and theater songs from South Pacific and The King and I. The singer-guitarist's first-ever Duke Ellington recording, 'Rockin' in Rhythm', was released in February 2010. For the dozen tracks, Pizzarelli took the tack of Ellington, noticeably displaying the strengths of the musicians in the band. Pizzarelli received the 2009
Ella Fitzgerald Award from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, joining a select group of past winners including Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Etta James, Diana Krall, and Harry Connick Jr.
Pizzarelli has married songs from great pop songwriters of his own generation with traditional jazz arrangements and melodies. 'Double Exposure', released in 2012, united the
Beatles and Lee Morgan,
Tom Waits with Billy Strayhorn and the
Allman Brothers Band with the style of Wes Montgomery. The GUARDIAN, UK was among the many publications to praise the album: "The arrangements are sharp and witty, the singing deceptively easygoing, and the guitar playing just terrific. It's a delight."
Pizzarelli's 'Midnight McCartney' album had its origins in Paul McCartney's GRAMMY® Award-Winning 2012 album, 'Kisses on the Bottom'. Pizzarelli played guitar on 10 of the album's 14 tracks and backed Sir Paul at an iTunes concert at Capitol Records Studios, the GRAMMY® Awards and the Recording Academy's annual MusiCares Person of the Year Gala. Fifteen months after those gigs,
Paul McCartney wrote to Pizzarelli to consider recording some of his lesser-known songs in a jazz style. Pizzarelli's 'Midnight McCartney' album hit a new chart high for John, reaching #4 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart.
John was a co-producer of the
James Taylor album 'American Standard', which won a GRAMMY® Award in the category of "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" on November 24, 2020.
Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club's 2022 Schedule of Shows now includes 9 NEA Jazz Masters, 52 GRAMMY Award-Winning Artists, 46 Blues
Music Award-Winners, and a comprehensive list of talented musicians with 575+ GRAMMY Award Nominations amongst them. Tickets for THE COOKERS at Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club, as well as the current list of 2022 & 2023 shows, can be found on Ticketmaster and Jimmy's Online Event Calendar at: https://www.jimmysoncongress.com/events.
